Tow hitches of various designs have been used for many years by people wishing to tow caravans, trailers, etc. In broad form, tow hitches generally comprise a hemispherical socket which fits over a tow ball in a manner which allows the trailer or caravan attached to the tow hitch to be freely movable in orientation with respect to the towing vehicle to which the tow hitch is attached. Generally speaking, the tow hitch hemispherical component may be latched onto the tow ball by pushing the hemispherical component directly onto the tow ball and moving a locking element into place to ensure that the tow ball and tow hitch are secured together. Whilst such an arrangement is quite effective for towing, unfortunately there have been instances where unscrupulous persons have disengaged the locking element to remove the trailer from the towing vehicle in order to steal the trailer.
To overcome this difficulty, there have been various designs of tow hitches which incorporate some form of keyed lock arrangement to prevent removal of the locking element. Whilst such arrangements have proved effective for reducing the incidence of theft, they may have a number of disadvantages. For example, in some designs, the keyed lock may jut out from the tow hitch at an angle in an ungainly fashion to the extent that it can catch against other objects in the vicinity of the tow hitch. Also, by jutting out at an angle to the direction of travel the lock may readily pick up items of dirt and dust as the towing vehicle and trailer are travelling along dusty highways. Such designs may also be ugly in appearance and unduly heavy because of their construction.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tow hitch construction which incorporates a lock and which can be configured in an alternative way to currently available tow hitches.